How can technology help us encounter God?

Neil Ahlsten

Session 2C, 1:00pm, Room 106

Download: Podcast

Abstract

Technology is reshaping human behavior by enhancing the motivation, ability and triggers for discrete actions that bring people value (BJ Fogg). For millennia, Christians have used the Bible to guide spiritual values and behaviors that they believe humans were created for. If the Bible contains meaningful values and behaviors, can these behaviors fit into technology models that enhance the motivation, ability and triggers for users of spiritual practices and help them engage more deeply in spiritual experience? For two years, a collection of Silicon Valley technologists from Google and other firms have been running experiments on the Abide prayer platform to test several hypotheses that people can experience prayer with greater meaning and intimacy in their daily life through digital media. The results conclude that for a significant portion of Christians, digital media can increase the practice of prayer by making it more relevant, easy and accessible in daily life.

Bio

See my LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/neil-ahlsten/14/203/b67

Co-Founder and CEO, Carpenters Code Inc. (2013-Present) New Business Development + Finance at Google (2007-2014)

Princeton, MPA UC Berekely, BA Summa Cum Laude

PBS Special including Carpenters Code team: http://findinggodinsiliconvalley.com/pbs-show-highlights-faith-in-silicon-valley/

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Passion Talks are short talks by Christian grad students, academics and professionals considering how their faith intersects with and impacts their work. Read more…

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